


Together

by Light1108



Series: Childhood Friend AU [4]
Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fear, Pre-Canon, childhood friend au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26356387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light1108/pseuds/Light1108
Summary: Sumire performs her last Meet before starting High School hoping to finally beat her sister but when this goes wrong and her best friend gets arrested for a crime he didn't commit how does she react.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Persona 5 Protagonist/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Series: Childhood Friend AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893562
Comments: 21
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

“Good luck Sumi. I’ll be cheering for you.” Ren Amamiya said to his friend over the phone.

“Thanks Ren… I’m really nervous but I think I can do well!” Sumire Yoshizawa said with shaky determination.

Ren chuckled “I know you’ll do great.”

Sumire took a deep breath to relax her nerves “You’re busy until tonight aren’t you?” Sumire asked.

“Yeah, Nakeo-san really needs help today. I should be done later tonight so I’ll call you when I’m home.” Ren responded.

Sumire giggled “Always the helpful one. Oh Coach is calling me over, I have to go!”

Ren wished Sumire luck once more and then said goodbye before they hung up on each other. After that Sumire locked her phone in the locker she was provided to store her things for the meet.

She then made her way over to Coach Hiraguchi. “How are you feeling Sumire?” Hiraguchi asked.

“I-I’m still nervous, Coach but Ren helped me calm down.” Sumire explained with a slight blush on her face.

Hiraguchi laughed “You really need to bring your boyfriend with you one of these days. If just talking with him stops you being a nervous wreck who knows what would happen if he was here.” Hiraguchi teased.

“C-Coach… he’s not.. My…” Sumire trailed off as her face turned a deeper shade of red.

“But you wish he was right?” Kasumi teased coming up behind Sumire.

“Ah there you are Kasumi, I was starting to worry.” Hirguchi explained while Sumire tried to calm herself down from their teasing.

“I’m sorry Coach, I was doing some last minute stretching.” Kasumi apologized with a quick bow.

“It’s fine but you two better be ready. You’re up next.” Hiraguchi explained. Kasumi and Sumire nodded while they waited to get called on. After a few minutes watching the other contestants Kasumi got called up for her routine.

As usual Kasumi’s routine blew everyone away with her bold and confident movements, Sumire looked on at her sister’s routine and her self doubt and lack of confidence began to return, this was only made worse by the applause and cheers that followed Kasumi as she finished her routine.

Within the next minute Kasumi returned to Hiraguchi and Sumire. As Sumire’s name called she froze up, afraid to go out and try to follow up her sister’s routine.

After a couple seconds of Sumire standing perfectly still until she was snapped back to reality by Kasumi poking her in the arm. 

“Remember what you’re working for this time. Don’t you want to tell him.” Kasumi helpfully teased Sumire.

“R-Right…” Sumire exclaimed as she remembered the promise she made to herself and Ren a few months ago. After a couple more deep breaths and hearing her name being called out again Sumire finally went out to perform her routine with shaky confidence.

“Congratulations, you two!” Hiraguchi cheered. “Kasumi, great performance as always but I did see some areas we really need to work on.”

Kasumi nodded “Thank you Coach! I couldn’t do it without your stern training.” Kasumi said as she put the first place ribbon in her bag.

Hiraguchi turned to Sumire who was looking at the floor “And Sumire, that was the best performance you’ve done yet but you still need to work on your balancing you’re still tripping and stumbling more than you should.”

“Thank you Coach…” Sumire glumly muttered continuing to look at her third place ribbon. “I just wish it was enough…” Sumire whispered under her breath.

“Again good work both of you. Get some rest and next time we’ll start getting both of you ready for High School meets.” Hiraguchi explained before leaving the girls.

After they finished getting changed and getting out their umbrellas to deal with the rain, Sumire and Kasumi started to make their way home.

As they walked through the wet streets Kasumi tried to start up a conversation “Today was brutal, huh?” Kasumi prompted.

Sumire sighed and briefly nodded before glancing up at her sister with a frown on her face.

“Are you okay?” Kasumi questioned.

“I’m fine… It’s just… Why am I doing so bad?” Sumire sighed, “I barely improved from last time.”

“And I still keep messing up my routine at every meet…”Sumire mutters grimly.

Kasumi moves up ahead of Sumire then flashed her a smile “It’s because of your growth spurt” Kasumi jokes.

“It changed your eye level. You’ll get used to it.” Kasumi said light heartedly.

“But we practise the same… and you always get first place.” Sumire murmured. “I just can’t catch up to you Kasumi…”

“You know why? Because it’s my right as the older sister. Besides you’ll always have Ren right?” Kasumi asked rhetorically.

Sumire felt like she wanted to run and get as far away from kasumi as she could but she kept her pace and spoke up “Will I… I never do anything for him.”

“Come on don’t say that. We both know if he ever needed you, you’d be there in an instant.” Kasumi said, continuing in her attempt to cheer Sumire up.

A smirk grew on Kasumi’s face, “Maybe you should finally tell him? Then you’ll always be there for each other.” Kasumi teased before giggling.

Sumire joined with her own quiet and slightly pained giggle, “I can’t… not yet.”

Sumire sighed again, “Can we just hurry home… I’m tired.”

“Sure!” Kasumi beamed.

When the two reached the crosswalk, Kasumi pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message to Ren asking him to check in with Sumire when he can. After that the two made their way through Shibuya’s station. 

They arrived home shortly after the sun had set and the streets of Kichijoji were covered in darkness. Sumire went straight for her room to take a short nap since their parents were still at work, Kasumi meanwhile decided to check her phone to see if Ren had seen her message.

“Hmm he still hasn’t responded… that’s unusual he would normally answer as soon as he saw it…” Kasumi pondered. “Hopefully Sumire will call him later.”

A few hours passed and Sumire was starting to stir, as she slowly sat up on her bed “I guess I was more tired than I thought…” Sumire yawned.

Once she had fully woken up, Sumire glanced at her phone to see what time it was. “9:36pm. I wonder if Ren is home yet.” Sumire thought as she checked to see if she had any missed calls or messages.

“Nothing…” Sumire was torn. Part of her wanted to talk to Ren since he always managed to help her feel better when she was down but she also didn’t want to bother him if he was busy.

Sumire shook her head and decided she’d go have something to eat. As she left her room her parents were there to greet her and congratulate her on getting third place. Not wanting to worry her parents, Sumire forced a small smile onto her face and said thanked them.

After that she took a small plate of food her Mom made for her and then retreated back to her room while she ate she checked her phone to see if Ren had messaged her which he hadn’t.

Once Sumire had finished she decided to try and phone Ren herself and he didn’t pick up. Sighing she finally decided to get changed into her sleepwear and go to bed, still feeling frustrated at her performance and feeling more lonely then she had in a long time.

A week passed and Sumire still hadn’t heard anything from Ren. She was initially hurt and thought he was just ignoring her, now she was getting worried something had happened to him. 

Her growing concern for Ren coupled with the result of her Meet Sumire hasn’t done much gymnastics practise or eaten as much as she normally would much to Kasumi’s concern.

“Come on! Let’s at least go for a run in Inokashira Park” Kasumi cheered trying to encourage her sister.

Sumire shook her head “You can go… I’m still not feeling up to it.”

Kasumi sighed and sat next to Sumire, “If you’re so worried, why don’t you go visit?” Kasumi suggested.

“I-I can’t… What if… he just doesn’t…” trailed off not adding the last bit of her thought.

Kasumi gave her sister a sympathetic smile “But is that any better then you are now?”

Before Sumire could respond her phone began to ring, checking who the caller was she saw Ren’s name. “H-Hello?” Sumire quickly answered.

“Hello Sumire.” Ren’s mother Yuine answered.

“Y-Yuine-san? Why are you using Ren’s phone?” Sumire questioned.

Yuine let out an exhausted sigh, “Last week when Ren was coming home and he ran into a drunk man and a woman… Apparently the man was going after the woman and Ren tried to protect her.”

“Is Ren okay?” Sumire yelled, now scared something happened to her friend.

“Don’t worry he isn’t hurt.” Yuine reassured, “But… the man got injured and Ren was arrested. He was only released yesterday and he has been put on probation for assault.” Yuine finished explaining.

Sumire was stunned into silence, Ren assaulted someone but he did it to protect someone. Various thoughts continued to go through Sumire’s mind with her going from confused to worried to angry this continued for a few seconds until Yuine spoke up again.   
  
“As for why I called you. Ren hasn’t left his room since he got back so I went to bring him some food and I saw the notifications on his phone so I thought it would be best if I let you know what happened.”

Sumire took a second to process everything. “Can I come and see him?” Sumire quietly asked.

Yuine thought for a moment, “If you want, maybe he’ll talk to you.”

Sumire and Yuine said their goodbyes, before Sumire could leave to get ready to go to Ren’s house, Kasumi grabbed her arm and asked her to explain what happened. Sumire.

Sumire told Kasumi everything and how she was going to go to Ren’s house. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kasumi asked.

“What do you mean?” Sumire exclaimed. 

“It’s just… if he assaulted someone are you sure you want to see him.” Kasumi stated.

“Of course I want to! We both know Ren wouldn’t do something like that so I need to hear what happened from him and…” Sumire shouted in an instant.

“And?” Kasumi prompted.

“I… I want to be there for him for a change. He always helps me and now I need to be there for me.” Sumire passionately declared before calming down.

Kasumi was taken aback by Sumire’s declaration until she slowly pulled her sister into a hug, “You’re right. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that.”

Sumire froze for a moment before returning the hug. “I won’t stop you going but at least have something to and wait for Mom and Dad before you leave, okay?” Kasumi requested as they separated.

Sumire nodded and agreed to Kasumi’s request. After that Sumire went and made them both a late lunch while they waited for their parents to come home. Once Shinichi and Akane came home, Sumire explained the situation to them and told them she was going to go see him.

Initially they were reluctant to let her leave but when they saw how determined she was to go they eventually relented on the condition Shinichi came with her which Sumire happily agreed to.

Soon after the pair had gotten everything they needed and quickly made their way to the station and onto the train. As they sat down for the couple hours long journey Sumire looked at her phone to see if Ren or Yuine had sent her another message and there was none. 

“I’m coming Ren.” Sumire thought as she looked out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very interesting one not going to lie. After finishing Run away and espsically after talking ith a few people who commented on that one I really wanted to explore the events aroun Ren's arrest and the last meet Sumire and Kasumi did before Kasumi's untimely death... and then it ended up being much longer then I originally thought it would haha.
> 
> The original plan was ot have this all be one chapter but I got really into exploring Sumire's thought and everything going on with her so I ultimately decided to split this story into two, this one focusing on the stuff Sumire is going through and the next one will be focused on Ren and Ren/Sumi fluff which should be fun. Hoping to have that done in a few days but we'll see. Also a little fun thing, I finally have a good idea for the Home sequel and the only reason I did this one first was because I thought it would only be one chapter... oops haha.
> 
> Anyway as always thank you very much for reading, if you have any feeback please share it and I hope you enjoy the next one!


	2. Chapter 2

After the train pulled into the station Sumire quickly made her way through the familiar streets towards the Amamiya house while Shinichi followed behind barely keeping up with his daughter. 

“Sumire! There’s no need to rush!” Shinichi called out in an attempt to slow Sumire down for a moment.

Sumire glanced back and seeing how far back Shinichi was, started to slow down. “S-Sorry Dad…” Sumire muttered with an embarrassed expression as her dad caught up.

Shinichi chuckled “It’s fine. I know you’re worried about Amamiya, just try and stay calm. Going into this in a panic won’t help anyone.”

Sumire nodded “You’re right…”

Sumire and Shinichi continued their walk this time at a slower pace, “Do you think Ren did hurt someone?” Sumire nervously asked her Dad as they continued down the street.

Shinichi pondered for a moment “I don’t think Amamiya would go out of his way or try to hurt someone. But you said he was trying to protect a woman right?”

Sumire nodded in affirmation “Then maybe in the heat of the moment he went too far, it wouldn’t be that far fetched. I’ve heard stranger stories from guests on my show.”

Sumire looked conflicted at her Dad’s explanation “But at the same time, you know him better then anyone so if you don’t think this is something Amamiya would do then you should put your faith in him.” Shinichi added to help ease his daughter's mind.

Sumire looked relieved at Shinichi’s words after which she went into deep thought for the last bit of the journey to the Amamiya house ultimately deciding it would be best to hear what happened from Ren himself.

Once they arrived at the house and climbed the stairs to the front door, they were greeted by Yuine, “Hello Shinichi and Sumire. It’s good to see you both, despite the circumstances.” 

“Hello” Sumire responded with a short bow.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Shinichi said.

“I’m guessing you want to see Ren?” Yuine asked, facing Sumire. 

“Y-yes.” Sumire answered.

Yuine smiled. “He should be in his room, hopefully he’ll be a bit more open with you.” Once Yuine told Sumire this she made her way into the house to go towards Ren’s room.

Yuine let out an exhausted sigh “I’m glad you came, Shinichi you might be able to help us out in a big way.”

Shinichi smiled “I’ll be happy to help out however I can.” With that the two also went into the house.

As Sumire was quickly making her way through the house towards Ren’s room she started to think about what to say, should she ask about what happened straight away, should she just talk, would Ren even want to talk to her?

As Sumire reached Ren’s room she shook her head trying to shake away her more disruptive thoughts before knocking on Ren’s door. She waited a few seconds and there was no response.

Sumire knocked again and once again there was no response. Sumire knocked a third time but this time she spoke up “Ren… It’s Sumire. I’m here, if you want to talk.”

A moment passed and Ren’s door slowly opened. Taking that as the invitation in, Sumire swiftly enters Ren’s room before shutting the door behind her. Once she was in Sumire looked around the room and saw it was more barren then usual with a few boxes scattered around.

Then in the corner of the room she saw Ren sitting on his bed with his head looking down at the ground. “Hello Ren.” Sumire said softly as she slowly approached Ren.

Ren was silent until Sumire was standing next to him, “Hey Sumire…” Ren grumbled. After this an awkward silence fell between the two after a moment Ren sighed.

“I’m guessing you know what happened.” Ren muttered barely loud enough for Sumire to hear.

“Y-Yeah… Your Mom called me earlier and told me what happened.” Sumire told Ren with clear hesitation in her voice. 

Ren again went silent for a moment before speaking up again, “Do you hate me now? Now that I have a record?”

As soon as Sumire heard the question she protested “W-what no! I came here because I wanted to check on you!”

As she said this instinctively moved closer to Ren and grasped his hands. “I promise I don’t hate you Ren.” Sumire declared as she put a bit more pressure on Ren’s hands.

Hearing this Ren glanced up at Sumire and gave her a small but clearly pained smile. “Thanks… Sumi. That means a lot.” Ren said quieter and less confident then Sumire had ever heard Ren talk before.

“Have some people said they hated you?” Sumire asked almost scared of what the answer would be. 

Ren gave a short nod “Almost everyone has said something like that. I tried to talk to some people from school and at best they ignored, at worse…”Ren trailed off but Sumire understood what he was saying.

As Ren began to hang his head again Sumire let go of his hands and instead slowly wrapped her arms around him and pulled Ren into a gentle embrace. “I’m sorry… I’m here, I promise.” Sumire said.

Ren initially stayed still but slowly loosened up and started to return the hug. “Thank you.” Ren whispered.

They stayed like this for a time Ren finally relaxing and becoming less tense as the embrace continued. Once they both felt more at ease they slowly and reluctantly broke off the hug.

“So um Ren…” Sumire started but stopped mid sentence.

“It’s okay… you can ask.” Ren said knowing what was on his friend’s mind.

“Well… Yuine-san told me what happened but… I was wondering if I could hear exactly what happened from you.” Sumire asked, worried she was overstepping.

Ren took a deep breath, “Sure. I think it’ll be good to tell someone.”

Ren then shuffled over on his bed to make a bit more room, he then gestured for Sumire to take the space. “This might take a while.”

Sumire nodded and took the place next to Ren as he began to retell what happened last week.

Rne started the story by how helping Nakeo-san ended up taking much longer than they planned so he didn’t leave until around 8pm and as he made his way home he heard a woman call out in distress.

Once Ren heard the woman he ran as fast as he could down the street to see a bald drunk man trying to force the woman into a car, Ren shouted at them to get their attention as he ran over to the woman and stood between the man and the woman. 

After a few moments of enduring the man’s yelling, they heard police sirens which Ren hoped would be the end of it but instead the man got more agitated and panicked, he started to demand the woman listened to him while he tried to approach her again.

But this time the man fell over and hit his head on the pavement causing it to bleed. As the police approached he threatened the woman to say Ren had attacked him which the woman complied with resulting in the police dragging him away while the man left with a couple of the other officers.

After that he was held at the station for a few days and then was taken to court by the man and was ultimately convicted as guilty, placing him on probation for a year.

“And that’s what happened.” Ren muttered darkly as he finished the story, his face contorting in silent anger as he clenched his fist in frustration. “In the end everything we tried to do to stop it was useless.”

“Ren…” Sumire exhaled unsure what to say. “I… I can’t believe she would do that, after you tried to help her!”

“I can’t blame her too much… That man seemed to have a lot of influence.” Ren grumbled.

“Still…” Sumire said as she looked at Ren and saw his subdued anger and pain at the situation. With some hesitation Sumire put her arm around Ren and gentle pulled him closer to her.

“I’m sorry this happened.” Sumire said while she tried to fight off her growing blush from Ren being so close. “And I’m happy you kept her safe.”

“It’s fine… and thank you for being here Sumi.” Ren whispered the small smile from earlier returning.

“Oh right.” Ren exclaimed “How did your Meet go, it’s been so crazy I nearly forgot.”

Sumire lightly giggled “Only you would ask about that at a time like this.” Sumire jokes. “I… got third, I still haven’t been able to catch up to Kasumi. I still wasn’t good enough.”

Ren smiled as he shuffled closer to Sumi, “I’m sure you did your best. Were you okay after?” Ren asked.

Sumire slightly shook her head, “I was pretty upset about what happened.” Sumire sighed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ren asked with no hesitation.

Sumire thought for a moment while yes a few days ago she really wanted to talk to Ren about what happened however right now, “No it’s fine. It doesn’t matter now.” Sumire answered.

Ren looked a bit surprised “Are you sure?”

Sumire nodded “Yeah… I don’t want to burden you anymore then you are and… right now all I care about is being here for you, I’ll just try harder at the next one. So please let me help you for a change Ren.”

Ren was in silence for a few moments before giving Sumire the first genuine smile she had seen on him today. After that the two started talking and joking about various different topics until the sun began to set still sitting close to each other.

“So, do you know what will happen now?” Sumire asked, “Do you need to do something for your probation.”

“I… Don’t know. I just need to go a year without getting into trouble but my old school won’t let me take my second year there so I need to find some place that will accept me…” Ren explained

“Does that mean you’ll have to move?” Sumire asked with concern.

“Probably.” Ren exclaimed.

Sumire had a sad expression at the news Ren won’t be around for the year. “So we won’t be able to visit each other.” Sumire murmured.

“Unfortunately that may be the case.” Ren sighed as he tightened his embrace with Sumi.

Before either of them could dwell on that reality any further there was a knock at Ren’s door. “Come in.” Ren yelled.

Shinichi and Yuine walked into the room after Ren’s response, as they walked in they both grew a smirk. “You two look comfortable.” Yuine comments.

Ren and Sumire look at each other realising they were still really close to each other. Quickly they separated from each other while their faces turned red with varying intensity.

“Ahh. You don’t need to break up on our account.” Yuine joked as Shinichi chuckled. Once Ren and Sumire had separated and calmed down Yuine continued, “Thanks to Shinichi, we might have worked out where you can go for the next year, Ren.”

“Really!?” Sumire and Sumire exclaimed at the same time.

Shinichi nodded “You see Shujin Academy is more than willing to take on any kind of student regardless of reputation.

“Shujin Academy… that sounds familiar.” Ren mused.

“It’s… It’s where I’m going to be starting this year.” Sumire spoke up.

“Exactly. That’s one reason me and Jun are interested in Shujin. We’d be more comfortable knowing Ren was around some people he knows. We think it will make the probation easier.” Yuine Explained.

“They also might be one of the few places to take someone with a record…” Yuine muttered under her breath.

“So does that mean Ren and I will go to the same school together.” Sumire asked with a bit more excitement then she intended.

“Exactly. This also means Ren will have to come to Tokyo for the year. If we had room in our house we’d let you stay with us but unfortunately…” Shinichi said.

“Don’t worry about that Shinichi. You’ve really helped us a lot. Jun knows some people in Tokyo so we’ll work something out.” Yuine explains as she walks towards the door, “I’ll go check on Jun. See what Shujin told him.”

Shinichi followed right behind, “Sumire we have to leave soon or we’ll miss the last train.”

“Okay. Just let me say bye to Ren.” Sumire stated as Jun left the room.

Sumire turned to face Ren, “So… Looks like me might be in the s-same s-school.” Sumire stuttered. 

Ren chuckled “If only it was under better circumstances.”

“At least you won’t have to go through this alone… you’ll have Kasumi...and m-me.” Sumire said with a light blush.

Ren looked at Sumire with a serious expression.”Yeah… you’re right. Thanks Sumi for everything.”

“Anytime!” Sumire cheered, “You help me so much, it’s only fair I return the favour.”

Sumire grabbed Ren’s hands again, “I promise. I’ll be with you the whole way Ren, we’ll get through this together.”

Ren’s smile returned once more feeling his shattered confidence returning at least a little. “Right. Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done! This was again a fun one to write, I really wanted this chapter to just have Sumi comforting Ren, while Ren is stoic and he is better at dealing with this kind of thing then most I think since it just happened and his friends have basically abandoned him I think he would be a in a rough state where he kind of closes off to everything which I hope I showed off well.
> 
> It was also nice to be able to show Sumi's supportive side in this AU a bit more since I haven't been able to show that off too much before and I thought having her put this as a priority over her Meet was a nice way to show it. As for Ren going to Tokyo, I went back and forth on whether he goes and stays with Sumire or how the parents would react (originally I was going to have someone be considered about being closly associated with someone with a record but didn't really fit for any of the characters). Ultimately I decided Ren would still go to LaBlanc but would have the Yoshizawas as a close support while in Tokyo.
> 
> As always thank you very much for reading, if you have any feedback or ideas please share and I hope you enjoy whatever comes next!


End file.
